Two-year-old boy dies from brain-eating bug in Nevada after playing in hot springs water
Two-year-old boy dies from brain-eating bug in Nevada after playing in hot springs
A toddler has died after contracting a deadly brain-eating amoeba while swimming in Nevada.
Woodrow Bundy’s mother, Briana, announced the two-year-old’s death in a heartbreaking Facebook post on Tuesday.
She wrote, βWoodrow Turner Bundy returned victorious to our Father in Heaven at 2:56 AM.
“He’s my hero and I will forever be thankful to God for giving me the sweetest baby boy on earth, and I’m thankful to know I’ll have that boy in heaven one day.”
It comes as a Florida teen became the fifth American this month to survive the brain-eating bug, which has a 97 percent fatality rate.
Woodrow Bundy’s mother Briana announced the two-year-old’s death in a heartbreaking Facebook post on Tuesday
Woodrow tragically died on July 19 from the infection, which is believed to have entered his system while playing in the water in Ash Springs.
Woodrow’s parents noticed something was amiss when the boy started experiencing “flu-like symptoms” last week.
He was rushed to hospital, where doctors initially thought he had meningitis.
They realized too late that he actually had Naegleria fowleri, which is fatal in almost all cases.
An amoeba is a small single-celled animal found in warm fresh water such as lakes and rivers. It cannot survive in salt water and is not contagious from person to person.
Generally, the amoeba enters through the nose and travels through the sinuses to the brain, where it causes primary amebic meningoencephalitis – a rare and usually fatal brain infection.
It spreads nerves to the brain, where it multiplies and destroys tissue and causes the brain to swell.
In the early stages, patients initially experience headache, fever, nausea and vomiting, but days and weeks later they may also experience hallucinations and seizures.
Only four of the 154 people who got the microscopic bug in the US between 1962 and 2021 have survived.
In a Facebook post two days ago, Ms. Woodrow said the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention refused to give her child any more medication because he was “past any survivor’s point.”
She added: “He’s not showing any brain activity at the moment, but there are still a few things we’re trying.”